Lane Community College bond on November ballot
By Tom AdamsEUGENE, Ore. - Election time is 36 days away and lost in the din of candidate chatter is a bond measure a local college hopes you won't overlook. The year was 1968, the start of the LCC campus in South Eugene. It has largely stood the test of time, but officials say 40 years of wear and tear and rain are exacting a toll. Loose stairs and crumbling concrete. "This is typical of the age in which the concrete infrastructure was built," says LCC Facilities Director Dave Willis, as he steps on a loose concrete stairway. It makes a thumping noise as he puts his weight on it. Rusting pipes and busted boilers. Willis leads the KVAL crew to the basement of the Center Building and says "We're now entering some of the mechanical spaces of the campus."
Unglamorous, to say the least. Officials say parts of the campus are falling apart because educational programs and labor costs, take most of the money. "As a result, we've not been able to invest in the infrastructure, so we're asking the community to partner with us in continuing this bond," explains LCC President, Mary Spilde. The new LCC bond would renew an expiring bond and fix or replace aging systems to power and heat the campus. Dave Willis says another example is, "We have an emergency generator that was installed in the 1960's." One that turns itself off after 20 minutes of use, after it overheats. There's a central boiler that's been out of commission since the summer; they can't get parts.
"We'd like to provide a much better quality learning environment for our students, faculty and staff," said Dave Willis. 25 cents per $1,000.00 valuation. That's the cost of the LCC bond if it's passed this November, or on a $200,000 dollar house, about one dollar a week. "We've got leaks on all our gasketing," says Willis, as he shows us leaking pipes in the hot water system. Campus officials fear if Measure 20-142 goes down the tubes, it will put a leak on the budget, and put several educational programs in danger. The bond would pay for up to $83 million in projects. Funds would also be used to update classrooms and labs at the Eugene campus. |
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